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Yahoo triples impact of 2013 data breach to all 3 billion accounts

BOSTON — Yahoo has tripled down on what was already the largest data breach in history, saying it affected all 3 billion accounts on its service, not the 1 billion it revealed late last year.

The company announced Tuesday that it’s providing notice to additional user accounts affected by the August 2013 data theft.

The breach was previously disclosed by the company in December . The stolen information included names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and security questions and answers.

Following its acquisition by Verizon in June, Yahoo says, it obtained new intelligence while investigating the breach with help from outside forensic experts. It says the stolen customer information did not include passwords in clear text, payment card data or bank account information.

Yahoo had already required users to change their passwords and invalidate security questions so they couldn’t be used to hack into accounts.